Excerpts pertaining to Sam Houston and his friendship with N. D. Walling and Elisha Roberts

From Rip Ford’s Texas by John Salmon Ford (edited with an introduction and commentary by Stephen B. Oates, researched by Ron Stern, University of Texas Press, Austin)

[From the chapter "Old Texians", page 17]

General Houston married his second wife, Miss Margaret Moffette Lea, at Marion, Alabama, on May 9, 1840. Some months after their arrival in Texas, they visited the eastern part of the Republic. While at Nacogdoches many of the general’s old friends called upon them. Among these was N. D. Walling of Shelby County. A story gained circulation, as follows.

General and Mrs. Houston were taking breakfast. Walling was at the table. He inquired: “Mrs. Houston, have you ever been in Shelby County?”

The reply was in the negative.

“You ought to go there, madam. General Houston has forty children in Shelby County.”
At this announcement the lady looked rather confused.

“That is, named after him,” Walling added.

“Friend Walling,” General Houston remarked, “you would oblige me very much by connecting your sentences more closely.”

[From the chapter "The Wilderness", page 14]

General Houston accepted the hospitality of Elisha Roberts and of his son-in-law, Colonel Philip Sublett. The latter commanded the Texians at the “Grass Fight,” which came off near San Antonio in 1835 and was one of the hardest contested affairs of the war.